Never ownED myself

Parting ways

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Eating after Lina's comment was nearly impossible. Life among the supernatural wasn't the freedom she'd dreamed of. First there was the mind readers and their bad habit of prying where they didn't belong. Now, the werewolf's smell was proving to be a problem.

Across the hall, eyes kept finding hers. It wasn't a breakfast it was a performance and she was the main character. When she was finally done, she rose stiffly, ready to flee back to her dorm.

"You might want to wait for me," Tom said, appearing at her side with his usual quiet certainty. "I need to take you somewhere. The elders are waiting at the training ground."

No explanation, no time to question it. As if on cue, someone whisked away her dishes, and the hall began to stir. People moved with quiet coordination.

This moment had been planned. Anticipated. Annie's throat tightened.
The scrape of her chair pulled her out of her thoughts. She looked around, stunned, as the crowd parted like water. A silent reverence fell over them.

"What now? Is this another test?" she thought. "They're treating me like I'm some kind of idol," she muttered aloud, mostly to herself.

Phil took the lead, cutting through the crowd ahead like a blade. Lina brought up the rear, keeping their small group surrounded. Annie walked between them, flanked by Tom, who held her hand when the space allowed, though the crowd made side-by-side movement difficult. He never said much, but he always seemed to know what she needed.

Her jaw trembled, her shoulders rigid. She cracked her knuckles as if the sound could distract her from the knots forming in her gut.

The air grew colder as they walked. The corridor dipped lower, and Annie realized they were heading underground. The light didn't dim, nor did the air grow stale. It was eerily pristine, a quiet kind of unnatural. It was cold. How do mages endured it?

Leah would've fixed her problem, but Leah wasn't here. Annie had used too much magic, borrowing strength from her wolf. Maybe this was why werewolf witches weren't supposed to exist. The magic was eating her wolf alive.

Her fingers searched for Tom's hand. The crowd had swallowed them up, separating their steps, but he found her again, meeting her halfway without needing to ask.

And so they walked, hand in hand, through a crowd that watched in silence.

It wasn't just a test. It was a judgment. Annie repeated herself.

As Annie stepped into the training hall, the quiet deepened. The crowd that had followed her merged with another group already lining the stone walls. Hundreds of eyes turned toward her and not a single voice rose among them. The silence was unnatural, unnerving.

Are they plotting against me?
"Tom..." Annie murmured, her voice drowned beneath a sudden, high-pitched ring. Her ears rang painfully, then popped. A spell had been cast. She winced, covering her ears yet no one else reacted.

Before she could recover, a pair of firm hands guided her forward, toward a small group of five individuals who stood apart from the rest. Her head still pounding, she looked up.

The first man was short but built like a fortress. His thick arms were crossed, brow arched with open skepticism. He looked her over as if she were a splinter in his boot.

Beside him stood his opposite: tall, lean, and elegant, with unmistakably pointed ears. An elf. He inclined his head toward Annie with quiet grace, prompting the shorter man to scoff in disbelief.

Annie blinked, hesitated, and gave a small, awkward nod. The elf acknowledged it, but no one else did.
On the elf's right stood a man who looked entirely ordinary. So much so that he almost disappeared into the background. But his eyes glowed faintly. A wizard, then. Powerful, no doubt, and he doesn't seem impressed with me.